Of Dogs and Caves and Reapings
by PenelopeWeaving
Summary: What if Katniss and Peeta saw each other the night before the Reaping? Submitted to "Prompts in Panem," Everlark Week Challenge, October 2012. Day 7, "What If?"


She heard the howl of the first dog at the same moment she saw Peeta standing between two trees in the growing dark.

She stared at him in disbelief. _What was he doing here?_ A split second later, she was running towards him, grabbing his hand, and pulling him along behind her.

"Come on!" she screamed, anxiety filling her. She dropped his hand so she could run faster, feeling him right behind her.

They reached the cliff, and she halted, turning towards him.

"We have to climb," she said frantically. She reached high above her head and grabbed a handhold. Her foot found its first crevice, and she pulled herself up. She scrambled up a few more feet before turning back to him. "You have to hurry!"

She saw him groping to find a place for his hand, so she crouched and grabbed his arm, guiding his fingers to the spot she had just used.

He found a place for his foot quickly and launched himself up just as she saw the first of the dogs running towards them. She climbed higher and urged him on. Subconsciously she counted five running towards them but she couldn't be sure.

She was at safe distance now, almost fifteen feet from the ground. He was closer to ten, and looking down, she saw the first dog reach the cliff and jump up towards him. The snarl and snap of its jaws propelled him forward so that he scaled a few more feet and reached a safe distance.

They were both breathing heavily and barely hanging on. When he looked up at her, she could see the fear and shock etched on his face.

"We need to keep climbing," she told him. "There's a cave above us where we can rest. We'll be safe there." She started up the cliff wall without looking back but calling out directions to him as she went.

When she pulled herself up into the mouth of the cave, she leaned back over the side, directing him to outcroppings for his hands and feet to carry him the rest of the way up.

Finally, he reached the top. She helped him pull himself up and over, and he rolled onto his back, gasping for air.

Now that the danger was over, Katniss felt nothing but rage.

"What was that?" she yelled, uncontrolled fury coursing through her. "What are you doing here?"

He didn't move but lay there, his breath gradually slowing to a normal rate.

When he didn't answer, she pressed him further. "You could have gotten us killed!"

She saw his brow furrow at this accusation, and he sat up slowly and faced her. "_I _could have gotten us killed?" he asked incredulously. "You wouldn't have been out here by yourself with or without me being here?"

She reddened when she realized he was right**. **"You slowed me down," she muttered.

She sat there staring, looking closely at him for the first time in years. His blonde hair was darker now than it had been when they were children. His face had lost the pudginess of youth - was now all hard planes and strong jaw. She swallowed painfully as his eyes, so blue and piercing, unrelentingly held hers.

"You didn't have to wait on me," he said, the petulance obvious in his voice.

"Of course I did," she said, the anger and fight suddenly draining out of her. "I owe you everything."

He looked at her a moment with confusion, but then he stood up and began pacing in the small cave.

"What are we going to do?" he asked. "How do we get down?"

She could see his anxiety building. "We have to wait," she said. "We won't really be sure that they're gone until morning when we can see again." Her answer agitated him even more. She sat and waited to see what he would do.

He stopped, staring out of the cave and into the darkening night. She watched him run his hand through his thick hair, pulling on the ends. His shoulders slumped, and he turned back to her looking defeated.

"Normally it wouldn't matter," he said somewhat ruefully. "But with the reaping tomorrow, I'm supposed to do the baking tonight instead in of the morning."

He sat back down on the floor and leaned up against the wall of the cave.

She stared at him before finally asking, "What are you doing out here, anyway?"

He flushed and looked uneasy, as if he'd forgotten the fact that he was out in the woods in the first place. He looked away from her then as he clearly worked through how to answer her question.

Finally, he looked back at her, evenly meeting her eyes. Now _she_ felt the need to look away, almost unable to handle the burning intensity in his eyes.

"I was waiting for you," he said. "I knew you were out here because, uh, I saw you go out. And I wanted to talk to you before . . . before tomorrow."

She sat quietly without answering. She didn't know how to answer. She didn't know what he meant.

"You know you don't owe me anything," he said, surprising her by returning to their earlier conversation. "I don't want to think that the only reason you would talk to me is because you felt like you owed me."

"I owe you everything," she said quietly. "You kept us alive. You kept _Prim_ alive. We were starving. Did you realize that? We were _starving_."

"I think I knew it, but maybe not consciously. I just knew you needed help. And it broke me to realize it." He still looked at her with such intensity. He wanted her to understand something more than just what his words meant, but she was scared to fathom what it could be.

She stood up. It was her turn to pace, and she knew he was watching her.

She looked out at the dark forest below them. She wondered about Prim and her mother. They would be worried, but they might not have realized she was missing yet. She had told them she was going to Gale's, but at the last minute, she had changed her mind and come out here to think. She hadn't even brought her bow.

She had been worried about the Reaping. She wasn't sure she'd be able to hold it together and be strong for Prim tomorrow. Of course Prim had only one slip in that bowl. Her name would not be chosen.

But Katniss dreaded the oncoming years. Having to worry about Prim being reaped was a fear greater than starving to death. She could keep her from starving, but she could not control the Reaping.

And now here was this boy talking to her as she sat on this precipice in life, on the brink of a fear that would overshadow even their need for food.

A shiver ran up her spine. It would be a cool night in this cave as the summer humidity had not yet invaded District 12.

"Please don't talk to me just because you think you owe me."

"I haven't talked to you," she said, recognizing the desperation that had begun to taint her voice. "In all these years I haven't talked to you even though I owed you. I don't know what to say. I haven't known how to thank you."

"You're not supposed to thank me for something like that," he said quietly.

He was quiet for a long time while she remained standing at the cave entrance.

"Will your family be looking for you? Prim must be worried about you," he said finally.

"I don't think so. They don't know I'm here. They think I'm with Gale."

"Are you _with_ Gale?"

She looked at him and tried to understand if he meant what she thought he meant. "Gale is my friend," she said. "That's all."

She watched him process this information. He nodded briefly to himself and then said, "We should get some sleep. It's going to be a long day tomorrow."

She agreed and then turned around to face him. "I really wanted to be there tomorrow when Prim wakes up," she said.

Understanding dawned on his face. "Prim," he said, dread filling his voice. "This is... She's in the reaping this year."

"Yes."

"Oh, no. Katniss, I'm sorry."

Something about his words, something about the sympathy he offered her, broke through. She didn't accept sympathy from anyone - she thought herself too strong for that - but he seemed to offer more. She felt his mutual grief, and the shared sentiment ate away at her control.

She wrapped her arms around herself and held on tightly, trying to keep herself together.

He noticed. She tried to hide from him, but he came towards her. She glared at him, trying to warn him off and make him understand how close she was to the edge.

But he ignored her, disregarded her body language even though she knew he understood it. Instead, he closed in and put his arms around her, pulling her close until her head settled on his chest. She could feel his hand clutch the back of her head and then stoke down her braid.

Sobs wracked her body, and though she held her breath, refusing to let any sound escape, she knew he could feel them within her.

Finally, she took a deep, ragged breath. She was calmer and more in control.

"Let's try to get some rest." His words were muffled as she heard them through his chest.

She took another deep breath and stepped back. "Yes," she said.

They walked back to the inside of the cave. She watched as he sat and then lay on his back, his head cushioned by his arms. She looked around awkwardly before lying down, her head facing the opposite end of the cave.

"Katniss?" His voice came out of the darkness, and she could hear something in it, something important. "What's going to happen tomorrow when I see you again? Are you going to pretend this didn't happen?"

Before she could think, the words were out of her mouth. "I don't know," she said. "I don't know. I just..."

"I want to be your friend," he interrupted.

She lay there looking up at the dark ceiling of the cave unsure of how to respond. She didn't like how he unnerved her, how so much of what he said to her made her uneasy. She never knew how to respond to him.

And yet she could not deny the fact that she felt drawn to him, the openness of his face, the sincerity of his voice, the way he seemed to trust. She wondered if they did become friends if she could trust him.

But it scared her.

"I don't know, Peeta," she said.

She thought it was the first time she had ever said his name.


End file.
